Klavier had been pissy since they arrived at the crime scene.

It was rare enough that Ema could hardly bring herself to match it the way she normally might – instead, his obvious short temper had the odd effect of lengthening her own, leaving her in the unfamiliar position of soothing ruffled feathers. She found it to be a pretty unpleasant job, frankly, and she had no idea why Klavier engaged in it so often.

Honestly, she felt… sorta worried. This was nothing like him; her partner typically continued smiling politely even with the most irritating of people; he'd snapped at someone twice already today.

It was just weird. The natural order of things had been upset. So badly that, after a few hours, she gave up and attempted to comfort him.

"Hey, what crawled up your butt this morning?" Despite the harsh words, Ema's voice was fairly calm. Maybe even a little hesitant – which was ridiculous, but. "You're acting really weird."

"…Hm?" Klavier blinked his distant gaze back to focus on her, frowning heavily. "Sorry, what?"

"Uh, that?" she scoffed, trying to play it off like she didn't feel downright disturbed. He didn't ignore her. Ever. Typically she had the opposite problem, Klavier always initiating conversations or smiling silently down at her in that stupid glimmerous way of his, making her feel all itchy and self-conscious.

"What?" he asked again, grinning at her halfheartedly even as he reached up to massage his temple with two fingers. "I'm not sure – "

"Do you have a migraine?" Both his eyebrows popped up at the question, and Ema felt called out somehow. But Lana used to get them sometimes, especially after long hours reading through evidence, and they'd always made her irritable, she'd sigh and rub her forehead and – act like Klavier today, pretty much. It seemed obvious in retrospect. "I think I've got some painkillers in the car."

"Not… exactly," he said, after a moment. His face softened, down to that familiar little grin. But instead of anything teasing, he just said warmly, "Thank you."

"I'm not an asshole," she scowled back. "Don't act all surprised."

"I'm not," he laughed as she stomped away. When she returned, red and fuming still, he accepted the pill and swallowed it dry before continuing like no time had passed: "I know you're a kind person."

Ema spluttered, offended. Not – being kind was nothing wrong, but for him to call her that, so warmly – how dare he. It felt like he was mocking her. And if he genuinely meant it… that was even worse, somehow.

"Next time you can suffer through your migraine alone, then," she said viciously.

"Ah, it's not a migraine," Klavier explained. "I have perfect pitch, ja?"

She was well aware. Among his annoying habits, he would sometimes identify the notes of random noises (up to and including her frustrated responses), or offer 'kind' advice when people sang along with the radio. He also had a tendency to humble-brag about how it made learning music much easier but also made certain noises much more irritating than they were for most people, which was why he couldn't help being a perfectionist when it came to – and bla bla bla went the band talk.

"The background music in this store is like nails on a chalkboard, Fraulein," he emphasized, eyes wide. She hadn't really even noticed it. "It's good to know I can count on you in the future when I hear something so out of key."

"You can't," she repeated flatly. Tried to ignore the smug smile he gave her, like he knew better.

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